As someone who has worn watches for many years and whose wrists are particularly prone to allergies, I have a love-hate relationship with metal watch cases—I like its texture, but I can’t stand the “green marks” left behind after sweating in the summer. Until I met the APS factory launchedWhite ceramic Audemars Piguet 15500, only then can we truly understand what “technology serves the wearing experience”.
When I got the watch for the first time, my first reaction was: “So light?”
The official data said that the entire watch weighs only 87 grams. I thought it was an exaggeration. As a result, once you put it on, you can hardly feel its existence – it is almost half lighter than the steel model of the same size! But the amazing thing is that it does not “float”, but because of the higher structural strength of ceramics, it gives people a contradictory aesthetic feeling of stability and lightness.
The case and strap are made of99.9% high purity zirconia ceramic, after high-temperature sintering at 3000°C, the Mohs hardness is as high as 8.5. I deliberately scratched the bezel a few times with a key and a Swiss Army knife, leaving only very light white marks that disappeared after being wiped with a glasses cloth. This means you don’t have to worry about scratches during daily commuting, office work, or even light exercise. For obsessive-compulsive disorder, this is simply good news.
The mirror isHyperboloid sapphire glass, with anti-glare coating. What impresses me most is its reading experience: even under strong light at noon, there is no reflection interference when looking at the time from the side. The edge of the mirror is perfectly connected with the chamfering of the ceramic bezel. When rotating, there is a visual illusion of “liquid metal”, and the details are quite exquisite.
The dial continues the Royal Oak’s classic “Tapisserie” pattern, but APS does not use ordinary embossing, butLaser micro-engraving + hand-made enamel filling, 1200 twill lines per square centimeter, the error is almost invisible to the naked eye. The luminous light is even more surprising – the hour markers are made of Super-LumiNova X1 grade material, and the ends of the hands are embedded with micro tritium gas tubes. When the lights are turned off at night, they light up like small light bulbs. The official said it can continue to glow for 18 hours. In my actual test, there was no problem all night long.
The movement is equipped with APS self-developedCal.4302 integrated movement. Although it is not the original 3120, its functions are almost all the same: it supports 200 meters of waterproofing (the actual measured 220 meters is no problem), 15,000 Gauss super anti-magnetic, and the daily difference is controlled within ±1 second. The bottom cover is designed through the bottom, and you can see the Geneva pattern and pearl pattern on the plywood are alternately polished. The ruby bearing is inlaid in the 18K gold countersunk hole, and the oscillating weight has a clear three-dimensional relief – this is far beyond the level of replicas that can “walk”.
In terms of wearing experience, APS has also made a lot of humanized optimizations: the curvature of the watch lugs is customized according to the wrist data of Asians, and the fit is extremely high; the screw-in crown has a ceramic bridge guard, which is smooth and safe to operate; it will not freeze your hands when worn in winter, because ceramics conduct heat more than twice as slowly as metal.
What touches me the most is——Not allergic at all. After wearing it for two weeks, my wrist is clean with no red rashes or marks. Friends who are sensitive to metals can really close their eyes and enter.
Of course, it’s not an authentic Audemars Piguet, but if you’re afterComfortable to wear, detail restoration, technological quality and daily reliability, then APS’s all-ceramic 15500 is undoubtedly the most breakthrough work in the current Royal Oak series. It is not just an “imitation”, but more like a love letter that uses modern material science to pay tribute to the classics.
At this price, if you can own a “ceramic oak tree” that is as light as weight, never rusts, bursts with luminous light, and can accompany you to play golf, why not?